474 THE GEKMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



pany witli others, liis envious snarling, one goes out of 

 the tent to stop his tugging at the ropes, instead of going 

 away humbly, he looks boldly into his benefactor's face, 

 barks at the firing, and goes off reluctantly. 



At other times they come curiously trotting along, 

 not allowing themselves to be frightened by the firing, 

 and a piece of bacon-rind will entice them to follow 

 the sledge for miles. It is a troublesome piece of 

 work to skin a fox newly killed, in the icy cold; 

 its warm skin forming a warmer neck-tie on that 

 account. 



The Greenland reindeer {Tarandus rangifer, L., var. 

 Groenlmidiciis) differs at least from the American, Lap- 

 landish, and Spitzbergen species. Its horns are not 

 shovelled at the tips, like theirs ; they are also more 

 upright. It carries its head and neck high ; its whole 

 build is elegant, and reminds one, in every respect, of the 

 European deer. Kane and Hayes also met with them in 

 the most northerly parts of West Greenland. Our excur- 

 sions taught us that they increase in numbers towards 

 the interior of the country; indeed, at the back of 

 Kaiser Franz-Joseph Fjord, in the neighbourhood of 

 a glacier remarkable for its luxuriant vegetation, we 

 came upon a tolerably good footpath trodden by the 

 reindeer. 



The musk-ox,^ properly speaking, the sheep-ox (Ovibos 

 moscliatus, Blainv.), is somewhat smaller than the Euro- 

 pean ox. Its threatening appearance is quite in contrast 

 to its harmless nature ; its colour is black ; its hair long, 

 and falling in rough manes, though on its back is some 



' In Grecnlaud liuigiuigc, Umimjinak. 



